Martinez & Associates LLC is a full-service information technology (IT) consulting firm headquartered in Hartford, Conn. Nationally recognized as a small business leader in its industry, the firm counts among its clients dozens of state and municipal government agencies, some Fortune 100 firms and hundreds of small and mid-sized businesses.
The 10-year old company, which employs about 40 people today, is notable for its accomplishments, even in an industry rife with success stories. What makes it even more interesting, however, is the fact that the man whose name the company bears, Michael J. Martinez, knew very little about the IT industry when he launched it.
"I have to say that, looking back, starting this company is probably the most creative thing I ever did -but I did it out of necessity," Martinez recalls. "Times were tough, my construction/real estate development business was foundering, I was in my mid-40s, and I realized I would have to reinvent myself if I were going to continue feeding my family."
Connecticut's economy took a severe nose dive in the early 1990s, losing some 175,000 jobs at the start of the decade. The banking, insurance and defense contracting industries - the backbones of the state's economy - all suffered steep downturns. Downsizing was rampant, and Martinez remembers it as "a very-destabilizing situation, economically. A lot of us were hurt badly."
Rather than panic, Martinez stepped back and tried to grasp the "big picture" of where the local economy stood and, more importantly, where it was going. He concluded that the only segment holding out any promise of growth was IT. Here was a technology that was becoming important to businesses in virtually every industry and that promised to evolve into an indispensable business tool. The question was, how could he hitch his wagon to that rising star?
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